The Written Kitchen

Well, after 2 years, I've finally been able to purchase the domain and name that I would like for this blog: The Written Kitchen. I've got everything linked and forwarded as best I can for right now until the blog designer can switch the name and some of the pictures to better fit what I wanted the design of this blog to eventually become. So, you will still see Morsels and Moments until she can change it to The Written Kitchen.

As for some more good news, I will be Guest Cheffing at Restaurant Iris on October 9th. Chef English decided to only serve brunch every third Sunday of the month so that they could be open for dinner on Monday nights. Since he would be out of town the third weekend of October, we decided on the second weekend, 10/9. We will be collaborating on the menu, which will be the only menu served that day. I'm nervous, excited, intimidated, and thrilled to be challenged in this way again. It's been 10 years since I was last on the line in a kitchen. Not that I will be on the line, although that would be awesome!

I'm hoping to do food that I love to cook (for me and others), eat, and write about. Obviously I want it to be super yummy, but I also want it to be food that you all could cook at home. I guess that's the teaching-chef side of me. Maybe Chef English will let me hand out recipe packets...tacky!? Anyway, I mostly feel honored to even be asked.



I can't leave you without a recipe, so here's the recipe for Strawberry Champagne Cupcake Trifles (from Georgetown Cupcakes) I made for New Year's. These were good, but I would use less chocolate or try white chocolate next time, as the semi-sweet chocolate masked the delicate flavor of the champage and strawberry cupcakes.

Snowed In

Around these parts, we don't get much snow and when we do, the city (and surrounding cities) shuts down. I'm talking no bread, no milk, no eggs to be found anywhere. Speaking of bread, milk, and eggs... why is that the first thing to sell out? If there's a power failure due to snow and ice-laden power lines and trees, those fresh items are the first thing to go bad. I've never understood that, but maybe I'm missing something.

The snow brought a dreamy Sunday evening and a gorgeous Monday (no school, of course) and lots of clothes drying. Do I want to see my utility bill next month? Uh, no! It will have been so worth it though. The girls were layered so thick with tights and shirts and socks they couldn't bend their arms or legs. It was quite a hoot to watch them building snowmen with out bending their arms. After being pulled by the 4-wheeler on pool rafts in the snow, building multiple snowmen, sledding at a nearby golf course, and 17,000 cups of hot cocoa, they came in for the night. Exhaustion doesn't describe their grinning, sleepy, red-nosed faces.

As for me, I did some "free" cooking. In other words, I was able to cook for fun, curiosity, and creativity. I cooked Chili from a diced chuck roast. A kind of cowboy-type chili. The best chili ever. I will never use ground meat again. My husband discovered baking and made Parker House Rolls. I've been telling him for years that he should try baking and that I thought he would be really good at it... I was right. I stand to gain massive amounts of weight with all the bread he'll be testing out and I'll be eating. I also made Wedding Cookies or Sandies. The... best.... cookie.... ever! If you use Plugra butter, dirt would taste good. I'll share the recipes for the Wedding Cookies and Rolls later.

Cowboy Chili

Yield: 3 quarts

2 1/2 pounds chuck roast, trimmed of fat & diced into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces

3 Tbsp. oil

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 celery stalk, diced (about 1/4 cup)

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp. cumin

1 Tbsp. coriander

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

2 Tbsp. dried oregano

3 cups beef broth

1 (14 oz.) can stewed tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes

2 cans (14 oz. each) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Preheat the oven to 325. In a large pot or dutch oven, add the oil. Toss in the meat, onion, carrot, garlic, and celery and cook until the onion becomes tender. Add the cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt, pepper, and oregano. Stir and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the broth, stewed tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and diced tomatoes. Stir, bring to almost a boil. Turn off the heat, cover, and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Add the beans after 1 1/2 hours. Serve with crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese. Optional: sliced pickled jalapenos, sour cream, cilantro.

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I feel as if I've been cooking for weeks. My 22 pound turkey is brining (sea salt, agave, paprika, dried shallots, garlic, and peppercorns). Both dressings, cornbread-sausage and oyster (gross), are made. Pecan, Pumpkin, and Sweet Potato pies are made with a special friend joining the party this year... Emergency Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting (melt 1 stick butter, 1/3 cup milk, ½ cup peanut butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, & beat in 1 pound box confectioner’s sugar).

fyi...a 22-pound turkey does not fit into a 3-gallon bucket.

As you can see, I cook everything ahead of time, except for the turkey. It's the only way to do Thanksgiving. I love it. It's my favorite holiday, a time for reflection while being engrossed in my passion and preparing for another passion... eating.

We are so thankful and so blessed in our lives.



I will be sharing our adventures from our vacation to Colorado soon: golden aspen trees, high altitude towns, elk, and rhubarb-raspberry pie.

Chocolate Emergency

A couple of months ago Cook's Illustrated, on the Today Show, cooked up some forgotten cakes. One was the Emergency Chocolate Cake from the 1940's. I've now made it at least 6 times, including by request in cupcake form from my 10 year old daughter for her birthday party. She even knows it has mayonnaise in it. Mayonnaise is a strange ingredient but not too unfamiliar in the baking world. It makes baked goods super moist. This cake gets more and more moist the older it gets...that is, if it makes it past day two. A simple buttercream or cream cheese frosting is the perfect compliment, but neither are necessary.

This recipe calls for coffee as an ingredient, but using water is fine if you don't want that hint of java. It also calls for Dutch cocoa but it works with any kind of cocoa. I've also used a mini bundt pan and made Mocha Caramel cakes for a fancier twist for my sister to sell at her deli. I'm going to include my Caramel Frosting recipe below, since it's mine.

Caramel Frosting

Yield: 2 cups

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp. evaporated milk

2 Tbsp. butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Bring the brown sugar, evaporated milk, and butter to a boil until the sugar is dissolved (about 1 minute). Whip in the powdered sugar until smooth with a hand-held or stand mixer. Use immediately. To make a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar. To make a thinner frosting, add more evaporated milk by the tablespoonfull after the frosting has been made the regular way.